1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of catheters, and more particularly to catheters used for scraping or thrombosing the interior or exterior walls of a blood vessel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many types of catheters are, of course, known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,003 appears to disclose an intravascular catheter having an inflatable balloon at its forward end. However, this catheter did not have any abrasive burrs, with which a vascular vessel could be scraped or thrombosed, and its ballon was only inflated to temporarily occlude the vessel.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,332,254, 4,299,226 and 4,292,974 severally appear to disclose a balloon-type catheter used to dilate a vessel wall.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 2,927,584 discloses a surgical device having an inflatable balloon, the exterior surface of which is covered with a relatively soft fibrous flocking material (e.g., cotton flock, wool fiber, rayon acetate, nylon, dacron or similar synthetic fiber) to hold the device in position.